A mistress to seal the deal...
Greek tycoon Alekos Gionakis thought he knew the value of his secretary, but her newly transformed appearance—and surprising secret parentage—has him reappraising his most precious asset!
Alekos knows that he can offer beautiful Sara Lovejoy the ability to meet her family, under his protection, while also securing a secret deal...providing she agrees to become his mistress!
But his best-laid plans are about to go awry, because her innocence is the one thing this powerful tycoon will realize is priceless.
Alekos was offering Sara what might be her only opportunity to meet her blood relations. Common sense doused her excitement. ‘It would look strange if you took your PA to a private engagement.’
‘Possibly, but you wouldn’t be there as my PA. You would accompany me as my date. My mistress,’ he explained, when she stared at him uncomprehendingly.
For a third time Sara’s heart jolted against her ribs. ‘We agreed to forget about the kiss we shared last night.’ She flushed, hating how she’d sounded breathless when she had intended her voice to be cool and crisp.
His eyes gleamed like hot coals for a second, before the fire in those dark depths was replaced by the faintly cynical expression that Sara was more used to seeing.
‘I don’t remember agreeing to forget about it,’ he drawled. ‘But I’m suggesting that we pretend to be in a relationship. If people believe you are my girlfriend it will seem perfectly reasonable for you to be with me.’
CHANTELLE SHAW lives on the Kent coast and thinks up her stories while walking on the beach. She has been married for over thirty years and has six children. Her love affair with reading and writing Mills & Boon stories began as a teenager, and her first book was published in 2006. She likes strong-willed, slightly unusual characters. Chantelle also loves gardening, walking and wine!
Books by Chantelle Shaw
Mills & Boon Modern Romance
To Wear His Ring Again
A Night in the Prince’s Bed
Captive in His Castle
At Dante’s Service
The Greek’s Acquisition
Behind the Castello Doors
Wedlocked!
Trapped by Vialli’s Vows
Bought by the Brazilian
Mistress of His Revenge
Master of Her Innocence
The Howard Sisters
Sheikh’s Forbidden Conquest
A Bride Worth Millions
The Chatsfield
Billionaire’s Secret
The Bond of Brothers
His Unexpected Legacy
Secrets of a Powerful Man
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Acquired by Her Greek Boss
Chantelle Shaw
www.millsandboon.co.uk
For Pippa Roscoe, Thank you for being a wonderful editor, for giving great advice, for the laughs we’ve shared and your understanding (and occasional tear-mopping) when I’ve struggled with a book! Best wishes always, Chantelle
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Introduction
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Extract
Copyright
CHAPTER ONE
‘CAN I HELP YOU?’ Alekos Gionakis said curtly, when he strode into his office on Monday morning and found an unknown woman making coffee with his espresso machine.
In the past month he’d had four temporary PAs, all of whom had proved inadequate to the task of organising his hectic schedule. But this morning his super-efficient personal assistant was due back at work after her holiday and Alekos was looking forward to his life running smoothly again. The idea that Sara might have delayed her return for some reason, and he would have to manage for even one more day with yet another temp, cast a dark cloud over his mood.
His rapier glance skimmed over the woman’s hair that fell in loose waves around her shoulders and seemed to encompass every shade of brown from caramel to latte. Her delightfully curvaceous figure was packaged in a dusky pink blouse and a cream pencil skirt that was a good two inches shorter than knee length.
Moving his gaze lower, Alekos felt a jolt of masculine appreciation at her shapely legs, which were enhanced by her high-heeled shoes with cut-out sections at the front that revealed her bare toes. He noticed her toenails were varnished a flirty shade of hot pink that was more suited to a beach than to Gionakis Enterprises’ prestigious offices in Piccadilly.
‘Good morning, Alekos.’
He frowned at the sound of the familiar voice. Low-toned and melodious, for some reason it made him think of a cool, clear mountain stream.
‘Sara?’ Her voice was recognisable, but everything about his PA’s appearance was definitely not. His brain was not playing tricks on him, Alekos realised when she turned her head. Even though she was standing several feet away from him, he was struck by the intense green of her eyes. They were her only remarkable features—or at least that had been true when Sara’s style of workwear for the past two years had been a navy blue skirt and jacket, which she’d teamed with a plain white shirt, buttoned primly all the way up to her throat in the summer, or a black roll-neck sweater in colder weather.
Smart, practical and frankly unnoticeable was how Alekos would have described his PA’s appearance before she had inconveniently decided to take a month’s holiday in Spain. When he’d objected, she had reminded him that she hadn’t used any of her annual leave since she’d started working for him, apart from one day to attend her mother’s funeral. Sara had looked even more washed out than she usually did. Alekos was not renowned for his sensitivity, but he’d acknowledged that caring for her terminally ill mother must have been a strain and he’d reluctantly agreed to her taking an extended holiday.
He had vaguely imagined her on a scenic coach tour of Spain to visit places of historical and architectural interest. He knew she liked history. No doubt the majority of the other people on the tour would be pensioners and she would strike up a friendship with a spinster, or perhaps a widow who was travelling alone and who would be grateful for Sara’s innately kind nature.
Alekos’s rather cosy picture of his PA’s holiday plans had been disrupted when she’d told him that she was going away on a YFS trip—which stood for Young, Free and Single. As their name suggested, the tour operator specialised in holidays for people in the twenty-something age bracket who wanted to spend every night clubbing, or partying on a beach. The media often reported scenes of drunken debauchery by Brits in Benidorm. When he had pointed out that a better name for the holiday company would be AFS—Available For Sex—Sara had laughed and, to Alekos’s astonishment, told him she was looking forward to letting her hair down in Spain.
His eyes were drawn back to her hair. He visualised her as she had looked every weekday for the past two years. She had always worn her nondescript brown hair scraped back from her face and piled on top of her head in a no-nonsense bun that defied gravity with the aid of an arsenal of metal hairpins.
‘You’re wearing your hair in a new style,’ he said abruptly. ‘I was trying to work out why you look different.’
‘Mmm, I had it cut while I was away. It was so long, almost waist length, and I was fed up of having to tie it up all the time.’ She ran her fingers through the silky layers of
her new hairstyle. In the sunshine streaming through the window, her hair seemed to shimmer like gold in places and Alekos felt an unexpected tightening sensation in his groin.
‘And I finally ditched my glasses for contact lenses. Although I must admit they’re taking a while to get used to.’ Sara sounded rueful. ‘My new contacts make my eyes water sometimes.’
Alekos was relieved that she wasn’t fluttering her eyelashes at him seductively, but she was blinking presumably because her contact lenses felt strange. Without the thick-rimmed glasses he was used to seeing her wearing, her cheekbones were more noticeable and her face was prettier than his memory served him.
He wondered if she’d had some sort of surgical procedure to her lips. Surely he would have remembered the fullness of her lips—and, Theos, that faint pout of her lower lip that tempted him to test its softness with his own mouth. He forced his mind away from such a ridiculous idea and reminded himself that this was Miss Mouse, the name that one of his legion of leggy blonde mistresses had unkindly christened Sara.
The nickname had suited her plain looks but not her dry wit that frequently amused Alekos, or her sharp mind and even sharper tongue that he had come to respect, because Sara Lovejoy was the only woman he had ever met who wasn’t afraid to state her opinion—even if it was different to his.
‘I’ll put your coffee on your desk, shall I?’ Without waiting for him to reply, Sara walked across the room and placed a cup of coffee on the desk in front of Alekos’s chair. He could not help himself from focusing on the sensual undulation of her hips as she walked, and when she leaned across the desk her skirt pulled tighter across the curves of her buttocks.
Alekos cleared his throat audibly and tightened his fingers on the handle of his briefcase as he moved it in front of him to hide the evidence that he was aroused. What the blazes was the matter with him? For the first time in a month he had woken in a good mood this morning, knowing that Sara would be back and between them they would clear the backlog of work that had built up while she’d been away.
But work was the last thing on his mind when she turned to face him and he noticed how her pink silk shirt lovingly moulded the firm swell of her breasts. The top two buttons on her blouse were undone, not enough to reveal any cleavage but more than enough to quicken his pulse as he visualised himself removing her shirt and her lace-edged bra that he could see outlined beneath the silky material of her top.
He forced his gaze away from her breasts down to her surprisingly slim waist and cleared his throat again. ‘You...er...appear to have lost some weight.’
‘A few pounds, as a matter of fact. I expect it was down to all the exercise I did while I was on holiday.’
What sort of exercise had she done on a young, free and single’s holiday? Alekos was not usually prone to flights of imagination but his mind was bombarded with pictures of his new-look PA discarding her inhibitions and enjoying energetic nights with a Spanish Lothario.
‘Ah, yes, your holiday. I hope you enjoyed yourself?’
‘I certainly did.’
Her grin made him think of a satisfied cat that had drunk a bowlful of cream. ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he said tersely. ‘But you are not on holiday now, so I’m wondering why you’ve come to work wearing clothes that are more suitable for the beach than the office.’
When Alekos spoke in that coldly disapproving tone, people tended to immediately take notice and respond with the respect he commanded. But Sara simply shrugged and smoothed her hand over her skirt.
‘Oh, I wore a lot less than this on the beach. It’s perfectly acceptable for women to go topless on the beaches in the French Riviera.’
Had Sara gone topless? He tried to banish the vision of his prim PA displaying her bare breasts in public. ‘I thought you went to Spain for your holiday?’
‘I changed my plans at the last minute.’
While Alekos was registering the fact that his ultra-organised PA had apparently changed her holiday destination on a whim, Sara strolled towards him. Why had he never noticed until now that her green eyes sparkled like emeralds when she smiled? He was irritated with himself for thinking such poetic nonsense but he could not stop staring at her.
Along with her new hairstyle and clothes, she was wearing a different perfume: a seductive scent which combined spiky citrus with deeper, exotically floral notes that stirred his senses—and stirred a lot more besides, he acknowledged derisively when he felt himself harden.
‘So, where do you want me?’ she murmured.
‘What?’ He stiffened as a picture leapt into his mind of Sara sprawled on the leather sofa with her skirt rucked up around her waist and her legs spread wide, waiting for him to position himself between her thighs.
Cursing beneath his breath, Alekos fought to control his rampant libido and realised that his PA was giving him an odd look. ‘Shall I sort out the pile of paperwork on my desk that I presume the temp left for me to deal with, or do you want me to stay in here and take notes from you?’ she repeated patiently.
She put her hands on her hips, drawing his attention to the narrowness of her waist that served to emphasise the rounded curves of her breasts. ‘I understand that the temp I arranged to cover my absence only lasted a week, and HR organised three more replacements but you dismissed them after a few days.’
‘They were all useless,’ he snapped. Glancing at his watch, Alekos discovered that he had wasted ten minutes ogling his PA, who normally did not warrant more than a five second glance. He felt unsettled by his awareness of Sara as an attractive woman and was annoyed with himself for his physical response to her. ‘I hope you are prepared for the fact that we have a ton of work to catch up on.’
‘I guessed you’d have me tied to my desk when I came back to work,’ she said airily.
Alekos’s eyes narrowed on her serene expression, and he was thrown by the idea that she knew the effect she was having on him. His mental vision of her tied, face down, across her desk made his blood sizzle. He felt confused by his inability to control his response to her.
This was dull, drab Sara—although, admittedly, he had never found her dull when she’d made it clear, soon after he’d promoted her from a secretary in the accounts department to his PA, that she wasn’t going to worship him like most women did. But her frumpy appearance had been one reason why he had chosen her. His position as chairman of GE demanded his absolute focus and there was no risk of him being distracted by Miss Mouse.
Alekos had become chairman of the company, which specialised in building luxury superyachts, two years ago, following the death of his father, and he had decided that Sara’s unexciting appearance, exemplary secretarial skills and excellent work ethic would make her his ideal PA.
He walked around his desk, lowered his long frame into his chair and took a sip of coffee before he glanced at her. ‘I need to make a few phone calls and no doubt you will have plenty of stuff to catch up on, so come back in half an hour and bring the Viceroy file with you.’
‘Aren’t you forgetting something? The word please,’ Sara reminded him crisply when he raised his brows questioningly. ‘Honestly, Alekos, no wonder you frightened off four temps in as many weeks if you were as surly with them as you’re behaving this morning. I suppose you’ve got woman trouble? That’s the usual reason when you come to work with a face like thunder.’
‘You must know by now that I never allow my relationships to last long enough for women to become troublesome,’ Alekos said smoothly. He leaned back in his chair and gave her a hard stare. ‘Remind me again, Sara, why I tolerate your insolence?’
Across the room he saw her eyes sparkle and her mouth curve into a smile that inexplicably made Alekos feel as if he’d been punched in his gut. ‘Because I’m good at my job and you don’t want to sleep with me. That’s what you told me at my interview and I assume nothing has changed?’
She stepped out of his office and closed the door behind her before he could think of a suitably cutting retort. He gla
red at the space where she had been standing seconds earlier. Theos, sometimes she overstepped the mark. His nostrils flared with annoyance. He could not explain the odd sensation in the pit of his stomach when he caught the drift of her perfume that still lingered in the room.
He felt rattled by Sara’s startling physical transformation from frump to sexpot. But he reminded himself that her honesty was one of the things he admired about her. He doubted that any of the three hundred employees at Gionakis Enterprises’ London offices, and probably none of the three thousand staff employed by the company worldwide, would dream of speaking to him as bluntly as Sara did. It made a refreshing change to have someone challenge him when most people, especially women, always said yes to him.
He briefly wondered what she would say if he told her that he had changed his mind and wanted to take her to bed. Would she be willing to have sex with him, or would Sara be the only woman to refuse him? Alekos was almost tempted to find out. But practicality outweighed his inconvenient and, he confidently assumed, fleeting attraction to her, when he reminded himself that there were any number of women who would be happy to help him relieve his sexual frustration but a good PA was worth her weight in gold.
The day’s schedule was packed. Alekos opened his laptop but, unusually for him, he could not summon any enthusiasm for work. He swivelled his chair round to the window and stared down at the busy street five floors below, where red London buses, black taxis and kamikaze cyclists competed for road space.
He liked living in England’s capital city, although he much preferred the current June sunshine to the dank drizzle and short days of the winter. After his father’s death it had been expected by the members of the board, and his family, that Alekos would move back to Greece permanently and run the company from GE’s offices in Athens. His father, Kostas Gionakis, and before him Alekos’s grandfather, the founder of the company, had both done so.
His decision to move the company’s headquarters to London had been mainly for business reasons. London was closer to GE’s growing client list in Florida and the Bahamas, and the cosmopolitan capital was ideally suited to entertain a clientele made up exclusively of millionaires and billionaires, who were prepared to spend eye-watering amounts of cash on a superyacht—the ultimate status symbol.
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